Ancient East China cities world-famous for history, high-tech
Those arriving at the Jiangsu provincial capital of Nanjing and disembarking via its central train station are welcomed with a glorious vista of the city, which is set upon the opposite shores of Xuanwu Lake.
In the early evening, as the sun drops in the sky, the lake transforms into a shimmering golden disc, reflecting the cultural and economic wealth of one of the four great capitals of ancient Chinese empires.
Nanjing’s prominence and influence throughout its 2,500year history has seen it utilized as the nation’s capital through six dynasties.
It is the city where the very first compendium of traditional Chinese medicine was printed, and the city where the skull of the Buddha Sakyamuni is enshrined.
Set further back from Xuanwu Lake, the great Zhongshan Mountain rises high over the city.
It is home to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, tomb of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644).
China’s second-last imperial dynasty, it is said that the Ming period was one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history.
For many years, Nanjing has served as an important transportation hub for China’s East coast. Today’s high-speed rail junction between Beijing and Shanghai is one of the country’s busiest.
On the outskirts of the city, CRRC Nanjing Puzhen, a subsidiary of national rolling stock manufacturer CRRC, is expanding its network.
In recent years, the manufacturer’s focus has shifted to the overseas market to bring in the bulk of its revenue — fertile ground, particularly in developing and even developed countries wishing to upgrade outdated rail infrastructure.
Since the introduction of the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as the national going out and opening-up policies, CRRC has successfully bid for international projects in countries such as Malaysia, Georgia, Papua New Guinea and Argentina.
At CRRC’s Nanjing manufacturing base — the largest of seven throughout the country — the company is currently building trains headed for Kenya and the expansion of the Nanjing Metro Line S3 into Hexian county in neighboring Anhui province. Wuxi
Over the Yangzte River and just one hour east by high-speed train, the industrial city of Wuxi awaits to host the second World Internet of Things Exposition — an event that has attracted high-tech enterprises and industry experts from across the globe.
The star of the show is Jack Ma, founder and executive chairman of e-commerce behemoth Alibaba.
Thousands have turned out to hear Ma speak, eager to hear what is around the corner for the tech industry.
In his energetic speech, Ma envisions a not-too-distant time when people will only work fourhour days due to the efficiencies and intelligence of machines.
He stresses that people who fear that the “machines are taking over” should know their place, and that humans and machines are not in competition with each other, because, he says, “to be in competition with a machine is like trying to win a running race against a train”.
Outside the expo, the city of Wuxi offers a lot more than its industrial history and high-tech future.
It is home to the world’s fastest and most powerful supercomputer, the Sunway TaihuLight.
It is an entirely domestically made machine capable of performance in excess of 93 petaflops, which is a lot, apparently. According to one of the computer’s engineers, the Sunway TaihuLight can be used to predict weather and crunch big data to identify the cause of natural disasters.
In the center of the city, the Qingming Bridge Historical Culture Zone is the place to be on a cool autumn’s evening.
The pedestrianized streets are jammed with families, couples, strollers, nibblers, photographers and the like, all taking in the area’s beautiful historic scenery, which straddles the Grand Canal — another UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The city government has made great efforts in restoring the area in recent years, at a cost of nearly 7 billion yuan ($1.06 billion).
As a result, Qingming Bridge and the connecting Nanchang Street attract some 50,000 visitors every day.